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The preceding chapters have provided detailed reviews of the relevant science base for a comprehensive consideration of how alcohol policy can better serve the public good. This concluding chapter now tries to make explicit the connection between the research and the practical needs of the policymaker who wants to implement evidence-based responses to the problems within society caused or exacerbated by alcohol. The intention is to make science useful at the real-world front lines of policy. The difference between good and bad alcohol policy is not an abstraction, but very often a matter of...

The preceding chapters have provided detailed reviews of the relevant science base for a comprehensive consideration of how alcohol policy can better serve the public good. This concluding chapter now tries to make explicit the connection between the research and the practical needs of the policymaker who wants to implement evidence-based responses to the problems within society caused or exacerbated by alcohol. The intention is to make science useful at the real-world front lines of policy. The difference between good and bad alcohol policy is not an abstraction, but very often a matter of life and death. Research has the capacity to indicate which strategies are likely to succeed in public health intentions, and which are likely to be less effective or even useless, diversionary, or a waste of resources. The evidence supporting the various strategies and interventions reviewed in earlier parts of the book is summarized.